A man in exile. A young bride left behind. A mistress who becomes their go-between. A connection like no other.
Maria, Maria is a historical-fiction novel set in 1950s Portugal and Newfoundland, following a young man exiled from Portugal, the wife he was forced to leave behind, and the mistress who becomes his scribe and their intermediary, tracing the unexpectedly profound epistolary relationship that develops between the two women—both named Maria.
Maria, Maria
Random House (US)
February 02, 2027
Hutchinson Heinemann (UK)
March 04, 2027
Praise for Maria, Maria
“Read the first three pages of this novel. You will wonder if the momentum can possibly be sustained, if the fire started at the opening can burn all the way to the end. The answer is yes on both counts. Maria, Maria is breathtaking.”—Ann Patchett, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Whistler
‘Maria, Maria is a gorgeous, joy of a novel about the complicated ways in which we love one another, often from unthinkable distances. I cannot believe this is Jennifer Galvao’s first book; it’s a tremendous achievement.”- Ann Napolitano, author of Hello Beautiful
“A transporting, romantic, immensely generous novel about love in its many forms. Jennifer Galvão is a writer of the highest order, one to be spoken of alongside Amy Bloom and Colm Tóibín and Maggie Shipstead, and her debut, Maria, Maria is simply a marvel.”—Jenny Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street
“Beautiful, compelling, and emotionally convincing on every page . . . This novel broke my heart and handed it back to me whole, and stronger.”—Patrick Ryan, New York Times bestselling author of Buckeye
“Maria, Maria is that rare gem: a debut novel that feels like a classic, at once tender, tragic, and transcendent. Galvão is a luminous new talent.”—Peter Ho Davies, author of A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself and The Welsh Girl
“I loved this beautiful, sensuous novel. It is a world suspended in time, rich with scents, colors and the agonies and ecstasies of longing.” —Miranda Cowley Heller, New York Times bestselling author of The Paper Palace
“Sweeping yet intimate, heart-breaking yet hopeful, Maria, Maria made me gasp and cry more than once. This is a story to be completely swept up in, with writing so tender it hurts.”—Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things
“I’m convinced Jennifer Galvão has had many lives. This book would be a staggering act of imagination and heart for a seasoned author. It feels supernatural as a debut. Every few years a novel comes along that makes you feel the human experience is bigger and wilder than you previously understood. This is that book.” —Kate Weinberg, author of The Truants
“What a rare and astonishing gift, a novel so richly transporting that it replaces life with its dream. Maria, Maria is an extraordinary depiction of the many dimensions of love and the ways women bend but do not break, and it stunned me on every page. Jennifer Galvão has done something remarkable here: She has made a world. I could hardly bear to leave it.”—Julie Buntin, author of Famous Men and Marlena
“Maria, Maria is a wondrous novel; I completely lost myself inside its pages. The dazzling prose and vivid, evocative storytelling made me think of Elena Ferrante - it’s that good. I adored it.’—Clare Leslie Hall, author of Broken Country
“I came up from these cold waters gasping for air. So lush, vivid and gorgeous that I was plunged into another place and time, and did not want to leave. A wonderfully assured debut. I loved it.”—Charlotte McConaghy, New York Times bestselling author of Wild Dark Shore
“I was completely lost in this novel, caught between trying to dwell as long as possible in every sentence and racing breathlessly to the end. It is a feast for all of the senses, evoked in such exquisite detail I could not believe it was a debut. Now more than ever I rejoice when I encounter novels that draw us completely out of the world and into their pages. This is one. Tender, sensual, thrilling - simply exquisite.” - Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton, winner of the The Costa Book Awards